Phnom Penh - The chief international prosecutor for Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal said Monday, one day ahead of the opening hearing, that it would be a highly technical but "hugely significant" event.

Co-prosecutor Robert Petit said although the initial trial hearing of former Tuol Sleng torture facility chairman Kaing Guek Eav, known by his revolutionary name Duch, would be a procedural affair, it would be a milestone for the UN-backed tribunal.

Phnom Penh  - Three decades after he supervised the murders of thousands of men, women and children, the former chairman of the Khmer Rouge's infamous Tuol Sleng torture facility will face trial this week before Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes tribunal.

After years of negotiations, delays and controversies, the long-awaited trial of Kaing Guek Eav, known by his revolutionary name Duch, will begin in Phnom Penh on Tuesday with an initial hearing to choose witnesses and set a date for the trial's next stage.

Bangkok - Provincial authorities on Tuesday reopened Phra Viharn National Park that has been closed for the past seven months because of a border spat with Cambodia over an ancient Hindu temple adjacent to the area.

"It's an arrangement at the local level," Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat said. "We're letting the local people try it to see how smoothly it goes."

Phra Vihran National Park in Kantharalak district of Si Sa Ket province, 350 kilometres north-east of Bangkok, has been closed to the public since July 14, 2008.

Phnom Penh - Cambodia's political elites have put the country's economic future at risk by squandering its rich natural resources, an international environmental and anti-corruption group said Thursday.

A report released by London-based Global Witness said international donors had turned a blind eye to the widespread corruption, mismanagement and nepotism that has positioned political elites as the only beneficiaries of Cambodia's oil, gas and coal reserves.

The report accused Prime Minister Hun Sen and the ruling Cambodian People's Party of allocating contracts "behind closed doors" to members of the political elite and their families.

Phnom Penh- The Vice-President of Germany's Parliament, Wolfgang Thierse, used his visit to the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh on Monday to tell the country's leaders they must bring an end to corruption and promote democratic pluralism.

Thierse met with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, members of the ruling Cambodian People's Party, opposition parties, civil society groups and religious leaders and visited Cambodia's UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal, where four former leaders of the genocidal regime are currently facing trial for crimes against humanity.

Phnom Penh - Cambodian and Thai foreign ministers meeting in Phnom Penh agreed Monday to negotiate a border dispute that last year erupted into a fatal skirmish between the South-east Asian neighbours.

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told reporters after his two-hour meeting with Thai counterpart Kasit Piromya that talks concerning the border surrounding the
11th-century Preah Vihear temple would resume next week.